Letters to the editor

As the Smart Villages initiative transitions into a new phase of activities, we’d like to welcome you to the first newsletter of our new fortnightly schedule. As ever, we welcome your comments and contributions.

Recent news is very much dominated by the latest announcements and commitments to energy access in India, and discussions of how realistic achievement of that ambition will be. And of course, we continue to see the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as viewed through a decentralised energy lens. There can be no doubt of the value of off-grid solutions in giving communities resilience in the face of natural disasters, as well as in rapidly addressing post-disaster recovery, and a number of news items this week relate to this subject.